The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015, are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 23, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

All the animals were searching for water, except for Hare, who was asleep. When they find a clear spring, they decide to guard it from those who didn’t work to find it. Monkey is first, but Hare comes by with his empty calabash (a kind of bowl), sticks a finger in it and licks it: “Dee-licious!” Hare tells Monkey to shut his eyes to get a taste, but what Hare does, of course, is steal some water and run away. Hyena gets fooled too, so the animals decide to make a sticky doll to guard the water. Hare tries to fool the doll and gets nicely stuck to it, and while the animals debate what to do with him, he slyly begs not to thrown into the “spiny, thorny bushes.” Readers can probably figure out how that ends. The marvelous illustrations are made with hand-painted watercolor Ingres papers patterned in burnished savannah colors. Grass and thorns, birds and leaves and each individual animal are placed against the sand-colored background.

Be the first to discover new talent!
Each week, our editors select the one author and one book they believe to be most worthy of your attention and highlight them in our Pro Connect email alert.
Sign up here to receive your FREE alerts.